


Basil fights back

by TheMissingMask



Series: Basil lives [4]
Category: The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 05:13:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16056245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMissingMask/pseuds/TheMissingMask
Summary: Basil hears Dorian approaching with the knife





	Basil fights back

In the almost perfect silence, Basil could hear Dorian's slow footfalls behind him.  They stopped, and, straining, he heard the slightest tap as something metal was lifted from a table.

Everything that followed happened in a matter of seconds, but it seemed as if the world had slowed almost infinitely to permit every turn.  Dorian took several hurried steps towards the chair where Basil had been seated, but the artist had by the time he reached it stood and spun to see the glint of the knife in Dorian's hand.  The chair and a table now separated him from the young man, whose beautiful eyes were the very picture of malice. Basil staggered back, possible escapes running through his mind.  The door was too far.  He'd have to turn his back. He would never make it there and manage to turn the key to open it before Dorian was upon him.  The purple fabric of the drape that had covered that terrible painting lay discarded on the floor.  Basil ducked and grabbed it, throwing the fabric over Dorian to disorientate him.  It worked, and for a moment Dorian seemed to struggle to get the fabric off, shouting curses at the artist as he did so.  It didn't last long however, and soon Dorian was free and throwing himself once more at the artist, knife raised to stab at him.  Basil barely managed to dodge the blow, the blade slicing through his shoulder but ultimately missing its intended mark and thrusting into the neck of the villain in that painting instead.

Basil didn't see the transformation.  He was too panicked to note anything beyond searching for means of escape or defence.  But suddenly the threat appeared no more.  The angry snarls and hurried footfalls had ceased. Dorian was no longer chasing him, no longer attacking. Basil turned to see him just laying there, motionless on the floor before that beautiful painting.

That the body belonged to Dorian, Basil knew only because there was no one else it could be. This was not the Dorian who had tried to kill him only moments before. Or, rather, this was the true image of that Dorian. Gnarled and marked with lines of cruelty and malice, nails yellowed from tobacco and opium, body contorted by the weight of sin. The old Dorian, the innocent and charming Dorian who Basil had loved, stood in the painting above the corpse with a perfect smile painted upon his lips.


End file.
